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Full-time workers beat the recession better than the self-employed

There has been a significant rise in self-employed workers since the recession hit in 2008, but new research shows their earnings have slumped rapidly during this period.

After being let go from their full-time jobs in the midst of the financial crash, thousands of Brits decided to take initiative and register themselves as self-employed.

However, figures show that incomes have been declining for middle to lower earners in the self-employed category since 2010, especially when inflation has been taken into account.

Self-employed workers have seen their annual salaries shrink by almost a third over the last 12 years but this hasn’t stopped a huge rise in people registering themselves as their own employer, reports telegraph.co.uk.

Professionals on over £150,000 per year have seen their incomes increase during this period, while those on below £100,000 have seen a drop in their earnings.

Contrastingly, those in full-time employment have fared much better since the recession hit, with several reports highlighting a rise in earnings in 2013.

Report author Richard Murphy, of think tank Tax Research UK, also said the suggestion that unemployment is dropping as a result of more people becoming self-employed is not necessarily good news.

He told mirror.co.uk that due to the drop in pay, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that people who are failing to succeed in their new ventures are simply entering “disguised employment”.